AI-aesthetics and the Anthropocentric Myth of Creativity

Abstract

Emanuele Arielli – Lev Manovich: AI-aesthetics and the Atnhropocentric Myth of Creativity. Translater: Pál Gyöngyi

Suppose human creativity could be potentially replicated by mechanical processes. In that case, we would face a crossroads: either we could give up using the concept of creativity altogether, or if we hold to our common understanding of what creativity is, we could agree to apply this concept to non-human phenomena as well, as world champion Lee Sedol did when judging the performance of AlphaGo. However, the idea that artificial creativity discloses the mechanic nature of human creativity should also be met with a bit of critical detachment, particularly if we consider the specific case of the arts. In fact, artificial reproductions of human artifacts do not follow the same processes with which humans actually produced those artifacts. Nobody thinks that Mondrian followed procedures similar to the algorithm used in 1966 that generated pseudo-Mondrian, even though the public appreciated the artificial images more than the original ones...

http://manovich.net/index.php/projects/ai-aesthetics-and-the-anthropocentric-myth-of-creativity